


The Village

by Trashboi_Atlas



Category: Naruto
Genre: And a big brother by said sisters relationship issues, Angst, BAMF Haruno Sakura, Found Family, Haruno Sakura-centric, Hatake Kakashi is a Bad Teacher, Hokage bashing, Homophobia, Kiri Sakura, Massively AU, Mokuton, Mokuton User Haruno Sakura, Namikaze Minato Lives, No Kaguya, No Zetsu, Other, Queer Character, Racism, Sasuke is a prejudiced asshole, Shisui is a great big brother figure, Strong Haruno Sakura, Strong Women, Trans Male Character, Transphobia, Uzumaki Kushina Lives, anko mitarashi as a teacher, cultural exploration in writing, exploring human differences, idk rare pairs are my jam, kinda a vent fic? Maybe, maybe Sakura/Shino or Sakura/Choji???, non massacre au, or maybe gaasaku bc gaara has my whole heart, platonic cuddles, poc anko mitarashi, poc haruno sakura, racial injustice, rip Sakura’s parents eventually, sakura gets a big sister, sakura isn’t a medic, sometimes life is hard and Sakura is glad he has friends to back him up, starts in the academy, the third Hokage and danzo can suck my dick, transgender Sakura haruno, will we dive into village politics? who can say, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28886133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trashboi_Atlas/pseuds/Trashboi_Atlas
Summary: Sometimes, following your heart is all you can do.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 71





	1. Disclaimer

Disclaimers:

This story includes racism, transphobia, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination. 

This story is merely a fan work based on the series “Naruto” by Masashi Kishimoto

While acknowledging that this is a fan work, please take note of the fact that I will be criticizing certain plot points and ideas and twisting them to make more sense to me.

There will be no Kaguya or Zetsu because aliens? Really?


	2. 1

The Haruno family moved to Konoha when Sakura was eight years old. While no member of the family was particularly happy about the development, Sakura was by far the worst. She was happy in Kiri, as dreary as its weather was, and didn't want to leave her classmates.

Unfortunately, while they were learning about channeling their chakra effectively in class, she had made a tree come from the dirt outside. The higher ups in Kiri had attempted to cover it up, but word got out to Konoha's clans and they pushed for the return of their clan child at the expense of war. It seemed illogical, war over a child, but Lord First's infamous Mokuton hadn't shown up naturally in anyone since his time. Not wanting to risk war over an insignificant child, The Mizukage pressured the small Haruno family to move to Konoha.

Thus, Sakura found herself standing in front of Konoha's ninja academy, worrying about how her classmates would perceive her. From what she had scene, the darkest Konoha's ninja populace ran was a warm toned medium tan and natural or earth toned hair. Sakura on the other hand, had light brown skin that ran on the cooler tone. Paired with the glaringly obvious pink hair, the girl made for quite the sight. She could already tell, despite the claims that the Leaf Village was the "nice village", that she wouldn't be making any friends. She took a deep, shaky breath before trudging into the building. She noticed that the kids in the hallway were looking at her with both curiosity and distrust. She had seen those expressions earlier that day as well, while walking to the academy with her father. Like her, he was dark skinned and bore the same obnoxious hair color. She had watched mothers eye them with distrust, pulling their children to the opposite side of the street when their children got curious about the odd looking strangers. Seen it in the way people pulled their money closer and held it tighter while they walked past.

Sakura hated that expression with every fiber of her being. Steeling her nerves, the girl slid open the doors to the classroom -another difference from Kiri, where the doors all had knobs and opened outward- and was relieved to see that the room wasn't too crowded yet. She'd hate to have all those curious eyes on her. The few people in the room spared her only a glance before returning to their conversations (and in some cases, naps) while she walked along the wall to reach the back of the classroom where a quiet boy wearing sunglasses was sitting alone. "Can- Can I sit here?" her Konohan dialect wasn't perfect, Konoha's language was too polished for her to get down so quickly, so she stumbled over her words a bit. In Kiri, people didn't care much about how proper you sounded so much as you could swing a sword.

"You may sit here. Why? Because there is no one else sitting in that spot." The boy responded, thankfully not pointing out her verbal difficulties.

She smiled, polite and closed mouthed, like her mama had taught her to around the Konoha-borns. Sakura didn't want to scare the boy away with her teeth, which had started coming in Kiri sharp.

The girl sat down and busied herself with arranging her belongings neatly on her desk and beginning to sharpen her kunai. They were Kiri standard, with a longer blade, blue wrapped handles, and light enough for her to throw without much effort. The boy tapped her on the shoulder. "You aren't allowed to have those at the academy yet. Why? Because we just started learning how to throw them and are only allowed to use blunted practice weapons."

Sakura, to put it lightly, was annoyed. In Kiri, they learned how to throw weapons in the first academy year, and they started out with throwing real, sharp blades. She figured that she should tell him so, but when she turned to say it, she crossed eyes with a boy who's features were so monochrome that it made her head hurt. Black hair styled in the most ridiculous way she had ever seen, eyes so dark that she could swear that they were black, and skin pale enough that the sun reflected off it. He scowled at her with an expression that clearly stated "you don't belong here", so she flashed him a grin that was all razor sharp teeth and watched him flinch and turn back around to face the blond boy in front of him.

Not long after, their home room teacher, a tanned man with a scar etched across his nose named Iruka Umino, strolled into the room, his steps silent as all good ninja (and anyone worth their salt at avoiding authority) should strive to achieve. He glanced around, locating her, and then spoke. "Good morning, students! As I'm sure some of you have noticed, we have a new student joining us today." 

He beckoned her forward to the front of classroom and she had no choice but to do as she was told. She didn't want to get into trouble and risk disappointing her parents on her first day at this academy. "Everyone, this is Haruno Sakura! Does anyone have any questions for her before I start class?"

Immediately, a hand belonging to a girl with icy blonde hair, blue eyes, and the same _pale_ _pale_ _pale_ skin that the rest of her classmates had shot up into the air. The teacher, Umino-sensei, called on her. "What are you? You're obviously not normal, so what are you?"

The pink haired girl's face burned with shame as she looked down. She could hear the mocking snickers that came from her classmates. Gathering up all the courage in her body, (which was rather tall, mind you. Everyone in Kiri is tall) she answered the girl with all the smart-assery she could muster. "A human being, ob-obviously." Mentally, she cursed herself for her verbal slip.

She heard a soft snort from somewhere near the back of the room, and traced it to a boy with a ponytail who was feigning sleep. Blondie squawked indignantly. "I meant why do you look so weird! Where are you from!?"

"I hail from Kirigakure, where you-you would be the odd one out, pasty." 

Sensing the tension that was beginning to build, Umino-sensei interrupted. "Kiri! That's interesting! Why'd you move all the way to Konoha from Kiri?"

Unable to answer, Sakura looked at him with a blank face. Mama told her that she can't tell anyone about the Mokuton. The man sighed before dismissing her to her seat. While walking back, she noticed that the dark haired boy and his seatmate had disappeared during her introduction. Apparently, so did Umino-sensei, who stood up and announced that he had to go deal with the two trouble makers. Almost as soon as he left, the class moved into groups with their friends to talk. The boy with a ponytail and a boy who was on the larger side walked over to her table. 

"Haruno, right? It was funny to see you smart-mouth Ino like that."

"It's Sakura. I'm not used to-to going by last names yet. What do you go by?"

"I'm Nara Shikamaru and this is Akamichi Choji." 

"My name is Aburame Shino. I hope you don't mind bugs. Why? Because my clan uses bugs."

The two boys, Shikamaru and Choji (Nara and Akamichi, she noted for later use. They definitely weren't close enough for first names yet, but it wouldn't have mattered in Kiri) jumped when Shino (Aburame, she reminded herself) spoke, as he had been quiet for most of the conversation. 

Deciding to return to an earlier conversation point, Sakura spoke. "Is Ino the blonde girl?"

Nara groaned. "Yes. The one who can't keep her provocations to herself."

As he finished his sentence, Umino-sensei slid the door open and dragged the two trouble makers into the classroom and told everyone to go sit down. Sakura resolved to ask her new acquaintances more about her classmates later and settled in for class.


	3. 2

Graduation Exams

* * *

Sakura sighed as she dressed for the day. Lately, everything had started to feel _wrong._ Her mother had just dismissed it as part of puberty, but Sakura knew that it was more than that. She couldn’t bear to look down at herself or look in mirrors anymore. She feared the day that she first bled, because the idea of it just felt so wrong. Her mother had laughed it off when she had said this and sent her out to train. 

  
Even though the Haruno family live in Konoha now, her parents insisted that she learns the sword to honor her home. Sakura agreed with this very quickly. She still didn’t like the leaf village, even after nearly 4 years of living there. She had become proficient in using a large blade, one that resembled a meat cleaver with one side rounded to a point. Her family had always done better with larger blades compared to a thin, flimsy sword like a katana or tanto. 

  
Sakura grabbed her kunai pack and her sword, slinging it across her lower back and holding it there with chakra. She checked through her school supplies, making sure she had everything she could possibly need in any situation. At first, her friends (yes, Friends! That was the only place konoha hadn’t failed her) had teased her about her paranoia, but they ended up relying on her during an overnight survival training due to their own under packing. Since that trip, they’ve kept their mouths shut about her supplies.   
She grabbed her house key and slid her shoes on before walking out of the house and heading toward the academy. As per usual, she got curious glances from the villagers as she walked through the streets. Sakura had been getting sick of those looks lately. It had been 4 years of walking to and from the academy total, and 2 years of walking to school with a sword on her back, so she was irritated by their never ending confusion and stares. 

  
She arrived at the academy and slid into her usual seat next to Shino (Shino! They had gotten close enough to go by first names!) and smiled at him, sharp teeth and all. He nodded back and they sat quietly waiting for Shikamaru and Choji to show up. The only sound between them was the gentle hum of Shino’s hive, which was a quiet comfort for the pink haired girl. 

  
When Shikamaru and Choji got to their regular spot, the talking picked up a bit between the four. 

  
“What do you think the exams are gonna be this time around?”   
  
“Probably the exact same ones they always have, Sak. It would be too troublesome to change them every year.”

“You Konoha folk have no sense of originality.”

”We’ve established this already. When? When you last expressed your boredom with our academy.”

Choji huffed out a laugh. “I’m just waiting for Sak to beat Uchiha out for Rookie of the Year.”

There scores were very close, if not the exact same, her and uchiha’s were. The title of Rookie of the Year would go to whichever of them got a higher final exam score, so Sakura had been studying and training relentlessly just so she could see the expression of _sweet, sweet_ despair on the bastard’s face. It was petty, yes, but Sakura still held onto her grudge from the first day of the academy. All Kiri nin honored grudges and challenges because their honor was at stake if they failed to uphold it. 

Iruka-Sensei -which he had pressured her to call him after the first year of her being the only one to address him as Umino-sensei- walked into the room, an air of both sadness and pride radiating off of him. 

  
“This years exam will consist of 4 parts: Ninjustu, Taijustu, Written, and Chakra Control. You will show your proficiency in the academy three in the ninjutsu exam, hold your own in a taijustu only spar against some jonin volunteers in the taijustu exam, show that you can comprehend what you’ve been taught these past few years in the written exam, and demonstrate at least one chakra control exercise for the final portion of the test.”

Shikamaru groaned. “Of course they complicate it the year we have to take it. What a drag”

Sakura shrugged from beside him. “Maybe it’s because of peace time education changes? We were taught differently than last year’s graduates were.”   
  


“We’ll start with the written exam. Please clear your desks of everything but a pencil,” Iruka-sensei began to pass out tests, “remember, cheating will result in immediate failure and will bar you from the rest of this year’s exams, so please keep your eyes on your own paper.”   
  


When Sakura got her test, she immediately began. Writing her name on the paper, she quickly moved through the questions with ease. She got done with the 16 page test in a little under 20 minutes and turned it in at the front of the room, where Iruka-sensei looked at her with an expression of shock and disbelief. He took the paper and began to grade it.

  
As he had thought, not a single question was wrong.

* * *

The rest of the tests passed by quickly enough. Sakura lasted the longest against the jonin during the taijustu spar, created an exact clone, replaced herself with a pencil that was laying on the floor, and henged near perfectly into mizuki-sensei. He had nearly fallen out of his chair when an exact copy of himself (if you excuse the ever so slightly different shade of blue on his forehead protector) had walked into his line of sight. During the Chakra control portion, Sakura had shocked the instructors by walking up a tree (Kiri children learn to water walk in their first year of the academy, so it wasn’t too difficult for her to figure out). She had passed the exams with flying colors, beating out Uchiha by a few points for the title “Rookie of the Year”.   
  
In all honesty, Sakura didn’t even care about the dumb title. She just felt the need to spite the black haired boy at any given chance. He had wanted it so he could impress his _darling_ older brother. She had only interacted with Uchiha Itachi a few times in her life, but she had felt annoyed by the older boy’s stoic personality. 

Sakura walked out of the building that afternoon with her head band tied around her throat.


	4. Sakura design (not a chapter)

[Sakura’s Design (pre-chuunin exams)](https://pin.it/2BWCeac) I couldn’t figure out how to insert a picture directly onto ao3 so I uploaded it to Pinterest instead. Maybe I’ll just make a board of all the art I make for this AU? 

If you want to see more of my art, follow my art insta (even though I don’t post often oops) @trashboi_atlas.art


	5. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’re interested in more art related to the story, go follow my Pinterest @Trashboi_Atlas :)))

**Team Placements and meeting Team 7!**

* * *

A week after graduation, the students assembled in the classroom they had spent their final year of their academy days in. The room was buzzing with excitement, with students guessing on who their teammates and sensei would be. It was loud and Shikamaru was definitely not pleased with it. He had complained to their group of friends about having to come to team assignments at all. Shikamaru already knew who his team would be, it had been set in stone since before he even entered the academy. The Nara would be part of this generation’s Ino-Shika-Cho trio, made up of Ino, himself, and Choji.   
  


Much like Shikamaru, Sakura wasn’t pleased about the situation. Two of her three friends would be on a team and her and Shino’s skills were completely incompatible. Which, unfortunately for them, meant that they would not be teammates.

Choji was feeling rather happy that morning. He was on a team with Shikamaru, at least. He felt bad for his other two friends, because despite what Ino said and others thought, Choji is smart. He knew his friends’ skill sets didn’t match up well enough to justify teaming them up.   
  


Shino felt a quiet disappointment as he looked out at his friends. They were some of few people outside the clan who would willingly interact with him and he wouldn’t get on a team with any of them. He just hoped whoever they stuck him with wasn’t too annoying or too adverse to dealing with his kikaichu.

Iruka-Sensei walked into the room, tears budding in his eyes as he looked towards his class. “Good morning, students! As of today, you are officially shinobi of our great village, Konohagakure no sato. You’ve all accomplished so much in these few years that I’ve taught you,” Sakura could hear him start to choke up a bit before he cleared his throat,”but, it is now time for me to send you off into the world with your teams.”

He began to list names, stating which team they belonged to. Eventually, he reached team 7. “Team 7! Namikaze Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke,” Sakura let out a silent plea to whoever may be listening for the final member to be anyone but her, “and Haruno Sakura, under jonin Hatake Kakashi.”

The pink haired girl slumped forward in her seat. She so wasn’t prepared to deal with moody ass Uchiha and neurotic ass Namikaze, but she’d make due. Shino gave her a sympathetic pat on the back, before perking up when his name was called.   
  
  


“Team 8! Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba, under jonin Yuhi Kuranai.”   
  


Shino wasn’t too disappointed in his team assignment. Hinata was quiet and Kiba had never outwardly shown disgust in his very presence, so he thinks they’ll be fine.

A few teams later, Shikamaru prepared for the sentence that would sea his fate.

”Team 10! Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji, and Nara Shikamaru under jonin Sarutobi Asuma.”

The two boys on the team slumped as well, getting ready for the rant Yamanaka Ino most likely had prepared for them about not eating so much and not being lazy.   
  


One by one, the teams were taken away by their jonin sensei until only the members of team 7 remained. Uchiha and Namikaze were shooting her glances and glares as they whispered to each other, until Namikaze decided to talk to her instead of about her.

He plodded his way up to her desk before slamming his hand down on it. “HEY! YOU SHOULD COME SIT WITH SASUKE-TEME AND ME! BELIEVE IT!”

Sakura cringed at his volume. Uchiha groaned. “What he means is that you may as well come over and sit by us until our jonin sensei gets here.”

The pink haired girl stared at them blankly before standing. At her current height, she towered over both her teammates. She was 5’7 compared to Namikaze’s height of 4’11 and Uchiha’s height of 5’1. Namikaze gulped when she stood at her full height in front of him and turned to march back to his spot in a rather undignified fashion.   
  


She supposed that she did make a rather imposing figure. As tall as some adult Konoha men grew at only 12 years old, carrying and sword nearly as big as she was with only her chakra control, and toned muscle developed from years of strenuous training, she looked far more dangerous than either of her teammates (despite having pink hair).

2 hours later, Hatake-Sensei arrived, falling victim to a juvenile prank that Naruto had set in hopes of teaching their sensei a lesson (how ironic). Sakura couldn’t help but snort at the fact that the dust from the eraser hadn’t done a thing to change the color of her sensei’s hair.   
  


“Meet me on the roof for team introductions.” He sighed and poofed away.

Sakura sighed before hauling her shell shocked teammates up to the roof via wall walking up the side of the academy building.

She set them down on the steps and sat on the side of Uchiha furthest from Namikaze. He was loud and she was willing to sacrifice poor Uchiha’s ears if needed. 

“Introduce yourself. Name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future. Stuff like that.” 

“Kakashi-nii, you go first! Sakura doesn’t know you like Sasuke-teme and I do!“ 

The white haired man sighed. “My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are none of your business, my hobbies are classified, and I don’t know what the future holds for me.”

Namikaze whined before yelling at Hatake-Sensei. “ BAKASHI THAT WAS THE LAMEST INTRO EVER! BELIEVE IT!”

Uchiha sighed before turning the the pink haired nin next to him. “My name’s Uchiha Sasuke, but just call me Sasuke because there’s too many Uchiha to have you call me that. I like training, my clan, tomatoes, and the idiot is fine too. I don’t like sweets or those girls from class. My hobbies are training and pranks. My dream for the future is to be a well known shinobi like my brother and cousin. What about you?”

Sakura was slightly surprised by the fact that Uchiha -Sasuke, he had told her to call him- was the most agreeable of her teammates. “My name is Haruno Sakura, and I suppose you can call me Sakura as well. I like swords, training, learning new things, and seafood. I don’t like loud noises or people who don’t listen. My hobbies are reading or hanging out with my friends. My dream for the future is to see my home again.”

The two preteens hadn’t noticed how eerily quiet their Sensei and teammate had gotten. “TEMEEEE! YOU FINALLY LEARNED HOW TO TALK TO PEOPLE!”

Sensei bonked him in the head. “Quiet down. You’re the only one who hasn’t introduced themself yet.”

”OH RIGHT! My name is Namikaze Naruto, but you can just call me Naruto!! I like ramen, learning new justu, and fighting! I don’t like my mom’s cooking or doing boring school work! My hobbies are pranks and gardening. My dream is to be an even better Hokage than dad is!”

Sakura couldn’t help but give him a small smile. While unbearably loud, he was very genuine.

Their Sensei gave them directions for their “survival test” the next day and sent them all home to their families. They would be meeting at dawn at training ground 3.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’re interested in more art related to the story, go follow my Pinterest @Trashboi_Atlas :)))


End file.
